A many of you know, I'm currently vacationing in Hawaii. I cannot begin to tell you how increidbly stunning this place is. Every turn on every road, every view from each beach I've visited... one visual is more gorgeous then the next. It's seriously surreal. It truly feels like something out of movie because it seems so unreal. I'm humbled seeing this kind of landscape because it really makes me feel so incredibly small in this HUGE universe. (Don't get me wrong - I LOVE Saint Louis - but c'mon... HAWAII??!! WOW. Just WOW!!)

Everytime I travel, people always say "I can't wait to see all of your awesome pictures!". To be completely truthful, I hate hearing this. Why?? Because I always feel like I'm going to disappoint people when I tell them I take nature and beach photos with my cell phone. LOL! Over time I have come to believe that a true photographer really knows where their passion lies when it comes to their art. They know when they feel alive with a camera in their hands, and this is why people are drawn to their images. I am a firm believer that you can tell when a photographer loves their job just by looking at their photos. For me, I feel the magic come alive when I photograph human beings. Capturing people - from the way they move to the expressions on their faces --- THIS is what makes me feel alive!!

Enter Hawaii. :)

I knew, without a doubt, that I'd want to photograph this incredible place... but I wanted to do it my way.

Here's just a little bit of what I photographed 6 hours after I landed close to midnight. Me and my crew woke up 1.5 hours before the sun rose to drive 45 minutes in the dark to a beach that had what I envisioned in my head as the perfect spot to capture the passion of Hawaii. Little did I know I would have to become an expert at mountain climbing to do this! I can't lie: It was terrifying to face this fear! I still can't believe I climbed all the way down... and ALL the way back up again. (See pic below of the climbing route! No stairs. No paths. Just mountain. Note the woman placed halfway down for scale purposes. HA!)

Most of the images can't be shared due to the intimacy of the photographs, but here are a few to help you see the magic and beauty that I was able to capture. These two woman are not only incredibly brave, but they are also two of my closest, most cherished friends. To have them get up hours before the sun just so I could see a photography dream of mine come true was more than I could have ever asked for.

S & K: I love you both. You two truly posess & outshine all of Hawaii's beauty.

And just for fun, I took an image of the beach with my "fancy" camera.